


Tell Someone

by just_a_hungry_author



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Dehydration, Fainting, Fever, Protective Derek Morgan, Sick Spencer Reid, Sickfic, Sleepy Spencer Reid, Spencer Reid Whump, Stomach Ache, Vomit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-14
Updated: 2020-01-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:55:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22258312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_a_hungry_author/pseuds/just_a_hungry_author
Summary: Reid learns to speak up.
Relationships: Derek Morgan & Spencer Reid
Comments: 10
Kudos: 474





	1. Chapter 1

It was a typical Tuesday morning in the BAU office.

The team had just finished a case, leaving each member with a mountain of paperwork. 

Despite all the paperwork, they were having a nice, relaxing, morning. 

It was much less stressful than one of their normal days by a long shot. 

Morgan had just closed up a case file when a thought struck him. 

He hadn’t been told a single statistic that morning. 

“Where’s Reid?” 

At that moment everyone else in the room simultaneously realized they hadn’t seen the genius yet. 

It was already nine, and Reid usually got there before everybody, including Hotch. 

“I haven’t seen him.” JJ replied. 

It was then that Hotch poked his head out of his office door. 

“JJ,” He called. “Grab Garcia and both of you come up to my office.” 

Morgan sighed. “We all know what that means.” 

Reid got into work twenty minutes later. 

Before he even opened the door he noticed that there was no one in the bull pen. 

As he stepped inside he saw Garcia walking towards her office.

“Garcia!” He called. “Where is everyone?” 

“There’s a case-” Penelope stopped as soon as she looked up at Reid. “You look paler than a ghost. Are you alright?” 

“I’m fine.” Reid answered. “What’s the case?” 

“Possible spree killer in Arizona.” Garcia replied. “Four dead, no clear victimology, no clear methodology.” 

“How do we know it’s the same unsub?” 

“Each victim is marked with a Roman Numeral.”

Garcia handed Reid his tablet.

“The case file is in there, wheels are up in ten.”

“There he is!” Morgan exclaimed when Reid stepped on the plane. “Where you been, Pretty Boy?” 

“The train was delayed.” Reid lied. “Sorry.” 

“Not a problem.” Hotch said. “Let’s go over the case again.” 

“According to the ME the first victim, twenty six year old Marie Donahue, was stabbed with a butcher knife.” Morgan stated. 

“The next, Liza Myer, was killed with a crossbow. One arrow grazed her arm, the next shot was to her chest.” JJ explained. 

“Then John Croffman and Kate Simmons were killed with a standard pistol, each taking shots to the head.” Hotch said. “And every victim had a note stuffed into their hand with a Roman Numeral on it.”

“Why go from a butcher knife, to a crossbow, to a gun?” JJ questioned. 

At that moment Garcia’s face popped up on the screen. 

“Hello my crime fighters, I hear you have some parameters for me.” 

“As always, Mama.” Morgan said. 

“Spree killers are usually men.” JJ started.

“He’s killing both men and women so he has the physical capabilities to take on either.” Morgan added. 

“The use of the knife in the first kill suggests he wants to be close… the gun… last two victims… opposite.”

The conversation faded to the background as Reid’s ever-growing headache increased. 

The dull ache had started to intensify, bringing the pain to the forefront of Reid’s mind.

In an attempt to ignore it he walked to the back of the plane and grabbed a bottle of water. 

“You alright?” JJ questioned. 

“Just thirsty.” Reid replied.

“Speaking of which, Arizona is in the middle of a heat wave.” Hotch started, “Make sure you all stay hydrated.”

Once they landed, Hotch sent Morgan and Reid to speak with one of the victim’s families. 

In the car, Reid was quiet and wanted nothing more than to close his eyes. 

Knowing that would raise suspicion, even if the man next to him wasn’t a profiler, he opted for staring out the window instead.

Unfortunately, this also drew Morgan’s attention.

“You’re pretty quiet over there Einstein,” He started, “What are you thinking about?” 

“Well, Roman Numerals, while stemming from Latin and Greek characters, have almost no deeper meaning behind their origin. If there’s any _real_ significance to them in this case, it has to be to the unsub himself.”

“He could just be using them to throw us off.” Morgan said. “Or it could be an aesthetically pleasing way for him to count his victims.” 

Reid nodded, happy that the theory he had come up with satisfied Morgan’s suspicions. 

His head was only getting worse, and closing his eyes was becoming more and more appealing. 

In fact, he didn’t even notice when everything around him started to blur and his eyes began to slip shut.

They arrived at the family’s house twenty minutes later, and it only took a quarter of that time for Morgan to realize that Reid had fallen asleep.

Knowing the kid has had issues with nightmares in the past, he figured the genius had just had a rough night, and decided to leave him be until they arrived. 

“Come on, Sleeping Beauty,” Morgan started, turning off the car. “Rise and shine.”

Reid shifted and opened his eyes, upset that waking had only left him feeling worse.

His headache had morphed from a dull ache to a clamping pressure. 

He got out of the car and walked over to Morgan, who had already made his way to Reid’s side.

“Good morning.” Derek joked. “You sleep okay last night?” 

“Yeah, fine.” Reid replied. 

It wasn’t necessarily a lie, the genius had been feeling fine the night before. 

Derek brushed off Reid’s lack of real response; the kid had just woken up after all. 

They walked up to the door together and Derek rang the bell. 

“Mrs. Boyle?” Reid said when an elderly woman answered the door. 

“Yes?” The woman replied. 

“I’m Agent Morgan,” Derek jumped in, “This is Doctor Reid. We’d like to speak to you about your son. May we come in?”

Reid managed to get through the questioning without raising any suspicion from Morgan, which was surprising to him considering how much worse he was starting to feel. 

His clothes were beginning to make him uncomfortable, he felt too hot and for some reason the feeling of the fabric touching his skin was driving him insane.

Morgan noticed Reid’s face was a little paler than usual, but at the same time he looked flushed. 

They were making their way back to the car, and just before he got a chance to speak up, Garcia called. 

“Hey Mama, what you got?” 

“For you I’ve got anything you want.” Garcia said. “At the moment nothing about the case; This is your hourly reminder to hydrate.” 

“I was just about to say the same thing.” Morgan replied. “Pretty Boy is looking a little flushed.” 

They got back to the car and Morgan passed Reid a water bottle, making sure the genius took a few sips before popping open his own. 

“You drinking?” Garcia asked. 

“Yes ma'am,” Morgan replied. “We’re heading back to the station now.” 

“Good, I’ll let you know if I get anything.” 

Reid was actually a little grateful that it was so hot, it gave him an excuse to press the cold water bottle to his head in attempts to ease the pain. 

Even if he decided to close his eyes for a few minutes and lean on his hand, he could just complain about the heat when anyone questioned him. 

In some ways, the heat worked greatly to his favor. 

In others, not so much. 

Of all the members of the BAU, of course Rossi chose to take Reid to the dump site of the newest victim, who was in the middle of the desert. 

They had drove as far as the road would take them, then proceeded to make the twenty minute trek to the body. 

In an attempt to at least pretend he was alright, Reid crouched next to the body and started to make observations. 

“The wounds are different this time.” He stated. “There’s a shot to the arm, then the chest.” 

“The bullet holes are a different size.” Rossi pointed out. “Maybe a .45?” 

“Another change in weapon.” 

Reid stood, which was not a smart idea. 

Vertigo hit him before he was even halfway up. 

He managed to stand and walk a few feet away from the body, before looking over at Rossi. 

“Kid?” Rossi said, “You alright?” 

“I don’t…” Reid started, “I don’t feel so good.” 

That was all Reid could say before everything around him faded out, and he felt his knees buckle underneath him. 

When he woke, the first thing Reid noticed was the cold. 

The next thing he felt was leather underneath him, which led him to believe he was laying on the couch in the police department. 

Feeling a pressure on his head, one different than his headache, he reached up and touched his forehead.

He realized he was touching an ice pack, and that’s also when he realized someone else was in the room. 

“Look who’s awake.” Morgan said. “You had us all worried, kid.” 

“What happened?” 

“You collapsed.” Morgan replied. “Partly because of the dehydration that was caused by your hundred and two degree fever.” 

Reid sighed.

No wonder he’d felt terrible. 

“You could’ve really hurt yourself.” Morgan said. 

Reid opened his mouth to argue, but Morgan was thrusting a cold bottle of water into his hands. 

“You gotta tell us when you’re sick.” The man lectured. “You have to let us help you.”

“I didn’t start feeling bad until we got here.” Reid replied. “And I thought it was just a headache.” 

“You still should have told us as soon as you realized.” 

“Where’s everyone else?” 

“Checking out a lead.” 

Reid settled back and sighed. “You think we’ll be going home soon?”

Morgan reached over and ran a hand through Reid’s hair. 

“I’m not sure, but you’ll be staying right on that couch until you’re feeling better.” 

Reid just nodded and closed his eyes, wanting to do nothing more than make the pain go away.

“Let us know if you need anything, alright?” 

He didn’t get a response, which made him realize that the genius was already asleep.

Morgan smiled and ran his hand through Reid’s hair again, hoping that the kid would feel better soon.

For the rest of the day Reid slept on the couch while the team worked, occasionally piping up with useful information.

He managed to convince Hotch and Morgan that he was feeling well enough to go with them to buy lunch, and by the end of the day he ended up being quite comfortable. 

The sleep was really helping his headache, and Garcia called him every hour or so to check in. 

The team was packing up to go to the hotel when Morgan decided to do his own check in. 

“How you feeling, kid?” 

“A lot better.” Reid replied. “I should be okay by tomorrow.” 

“See? Resting works wonders.” 

Reid smiled. 

“And next time you’re not feeling well you’ll tell someone, right?” 

“Only to keep you off my back about it.” 

Morgan laughed. “Well, as long as you tell someone.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Next time."

It was a fairly usual day in the life of the BAU. 

They had flown out early that morning to a state halfway across the country for a case, and all they had managed to get so far was the Unsub was a sadist who was killing with a meat cleaver. 

It was nearing two o'clock, and everyone was starting to get frustrated that they hadn’t made much progress. 

They sat in the conference room in silence, all lost in their own minds, trying to come up with something. 

The quiet of the room made it almost impossible for Hotch to not hear Morgan’s stomach growl. 

Then JJ’s, and then his own shortly after. 

Realizing that sitting in deafening silence wouldn’t help them get any further in solving the case, he sighed. 

“Let’s order lunch.” Hotch said. “Being annoyed and hungry won’t get us anywhere.” 

They talked about the case as they ate, though not in too much detail, and Reid, while picking at his food, discovered that the locations of the dump sites looked like the beginning of a star when connecting the dots.

“We can put the next few possible dump sites under surveillance.” Hotch said. “Rossi and JJ, I want you to help the locals get set up.”

At that the moment the police chief walked in. “Agent Hotchner, the latest victim’s family is here.” 

“Great, I’ll speak with them, Morgan, come with me. When we’re done there I’ll be heading out to speak with a few different butchers.” 

Morgan and Hotch emerged from talking with the victim’s family forty five minutes later.

While Hotch left the building to go speak with butchers about any employees they recently fired or had bad experiences with, Morgan walked back to the conference room in search of Reid. 

“Hey, Pretty Boy-” 

He stopped when he realized the room was empty. 

Where could Reid have possibly gone? 

Deciding that the police department wasn’t very big and Reid couldn’t have gone far, Morgan started to walk around the building.

He had been walking towards the front door, figuring Reid may have just wanted some fresh air, when he heard noise coming from the bathroom. 

Stopping, he listened for a moment. 

The noise sounded like retching.

Hoping he was wrong, Morgan knocked on the door. 

“Reid?”

No response. 

“Reid? Is that you?” 

Hearing only gagging, Morgan opened the door to find exactly what he didn’t want to see. 

Reid was kneeling on the floor, vomiting. 

Morgan immediately leaned down and rubbed his back, waiting for the nausea to pass.

After a few minutes, the vomiting turned to heaving. 

“Morgan,” Reid panted, “I don’t feel good.”

“I know, Kid.” Morgan sighed. “Did you eat something bad at lunch?” 

Reid shook his head. 

He looked up at Morgan, revealing the tears running down his cheeks, which were red and puffy. 

“It hurts.”

Morgan softened, no longer caring about anything but getting Reid to stop being in pain. 

He placed an arm around Reid’s shoulders and helped him up. 

“Come on, let’s get you out of here.” 

They made it back to the conference room without much difficulty. 

Reid sat at the table and put his head down, wanting nothing more than to be back at home. 

Putting his phone to his ear, Morgan called Hotch. 

“Hotchner.” 

“Hey Hotch,” Morgan started. “We’ve got a problem over here.” 

“What’s wrong?” 

Morgan sighed and looked over at Reid, who seemed to now be asleep. “The kid isn’t feeling too hot.”

“What’s wrong with him?” 

“He was puking his guts out a few minutes ago.” Morgan replied. 

He walked over to the table and ran his hand through Reid’s hair. “And I think he’s got a fever, but right now he’s asleep with his head on the table so I can’t really check.” 

Hotch sighed. 

There was no way Reid could work like that, and being in the station wouldn’t provide him any comfort.

“Take him to the hotel.” He instructed. “I won’t ask you to stay with him, but know that it’s possible for you to assist on the case from there.” 

“I’m not leaving him.” Morgan replied. “Call me if you make any progress.” 

Hanging up, Morgan moved his hand from Reid’s head to his shoulder. 

“Kid?” 

He shook Reid’s shoulder slightly. 

“Come on Reid, let’s get you to a bed.” 

Reid stood and leaned heavily on Morgan, his head on the older man’s shoulder. 

“M'rgan?” He slurred. 

“Yeah, it’s me.” Morgan replied. 

“Thank you.” 

Morgan couldn’t help but smile. 

“Anytime, Kid.”


End file.
